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Pretty fast...

June 3, 2016 (Night)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 70s with light breeze blowing away the humidity of the day

Comments:
After a hectic day in the classroom, I got out of school at 2:50 and endured a lot of traffic to get to Westchester, PA. Alas, I missed Erkins's 400 by 10 minutes, but was there in time to talk him into running the 800 even though he hadn't caught his breath by the time it went off. Seeded at 2:04, he was not exactly set up for success, but managed to claim he had fun running 2:21.41. (His 400 was 53.60 despite a waterfall start which boxed him for the first 200m.)

After realizing I'd left my running shoes in DC, I borrowed Tristan's moon shoes and jogged 16 minutes with The Turkish Delight and Caveman through the quaint streets of Westchester. Every step felt odd in the low-healed Hokas (sp?) and within half an hour of the run ending, I had pain in my lower back which persists today (Saturday). Alas, I'm old and brittle.

Enjoyed hanging out at the track with the mini team. Couldn't have scripted a better finish to the careers of Tristan and Katherine than what they delivered at this, the 11th Annual John Hay Distance Festival. Tristan confidently raced the mile in 4:14.02 and after sitting in 3rd most of the way, took the lead at 1200m and fought off several legitimate challenges in the final lap to win the fast section, pulling away from a swarm in the final 50m. splits were 64, 63, 64, 63 for the 440s. A school record and satisfyingly perfect race from the Giraffe.

Katherine appeared completely unfazed by everything which would have fazed any sane runner in her situation. No female GDS teammates, a 3.5 hour car ride, an unfamiliar track, racing under the lights as the last seed in a 23 person field with only elite and college men and not a single other woman, racing a 12.5 lap race in her first ever 5,000 meter track race... She was simply perfect... the picture of confidence, focus and determination. (Watching a 5km like this where you see her pass by every 400 (or 200 meters as the race closed and I couldn't control myself any longer) is like watching one of those films of organic matter decaying -as form begins to break down and shoulders begin to rise and breathing begins to hurt and pain begins to ooze from every pore... and yet... and yet Caveman remained so even in her pace, so focused in her mission and so incredibly strong. 5:40.4, 5:35.0 (passing a man who was seeded 17:09) and 5:40.7 (16:56 for 3 miles) before closing in 41.9! 17:38.15 Unbelievable.

So proud of these seniors and all they've accomplished in their four years and so pleased to see them go out on top like this. Even bought myself both an Italian Hoagie and a cheesesteak from Lorenzos for the ride home.